On Keeping a Journal For Eight Weeks

Jamiah Mitchell writes:

In March we started to keep journals in Project Lab. This was supposed to be a way to clear our minds for better understanding, and since my class meets Period 1, it was more a “start the day” cleanse almost every day. I would say that it actually did help on some days and others it seemed as if I was just empty minded and looking for something to talk about. It was calming and then stressful. But for the most part it was very relaxing if the class was quiet or had the music playing in the background (nature sounds, yoga music). I really did not like it when we first did it because it just seemed so useless and unnecessary. But once I actually started doing it, I understood why. It was almost impossible to hold any grudges against anything for the rest of the day, because I had gotten it off my chest through the journal. I share a lot with my teacher so it wasn’t hard for me to open up and tell her about some stuff that’s going on in my life. And when I look back on it most of my stories are funny, so it’s amusing to read. I don’t think I’d continue it because I’m very forgetful and I will forget to do it everyday. But if I was to continue to do it I would probably grow into being a very calm minded person. I can’t really explain, but I would say it was successful if you actually did it. I would recommend keeping a journal for people who have a hard time expressing themselves through verbal conversation so they won’t have any depression or feel closed out. At the end it was a successful exercise we did and hopefully some will continue to do it.